Rivers: Thou Shall Not Fear
"Terrorists want to inspire fear in us but we will not succumb." - President Barack Obama, speaking immediately after the New York bombing.
Today, I painfully read through a post where Oraye St. Franklin, SA on Facebook to the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, was shallowly advising his followers against posting pictures of their children and wards, on Facebook, or any other social media platform, as they return back to school, because of the precarious security situation in Rivers State that has unfortunately crippled businesses and economic prosperity in the land. So after all their Machiavellian media denials, they have now shamelessly confirmed the heightened level of insecurity in the State. Shame.
Well, from the stand point of his carnal, residual and isolationist thinking, he's perfectly correct. However, his analysis in terms of releasing pictures of our children in their school 'uniforms' on Facebook, thereby 'exposing' them to the prevailing security threats in Rivers State, is a stark deviation from decent leadership norms. A leader should never communicate fear to his followers. Please read the Bible and other guidance books for more details.
Furthermore, the ego-bloated SA, failed woefully to attach a timeline for such a life-threatening danger signal with all the necessary standard information on the subject matter to guide his readers through. I.e, he was unintelligently silent on the proposed timeline for his 'terror alert'. How soon can Rivers indigenes and residents regain their freedom of expression, albeit through the cyberspace?
The young lad also could not outline the seen or unseen efforts that the Rivers State Government, whom he serves, has taken to ensure that Nigerian citizens living in Rivers State are not denied access to the adventurous and educative ICT revolution of the 21st century. What are the specific steps that his master has taken to ensure that kidnappers, cultists, and those who might see pictures of our kids on the Internet and develop any negative intent against them afterwards, are intercepted and brought to justice?
The same person that was shouting everywhere, saying that there was nothing but perfect peace in Rivers State (inside government house of course), is the same person that is now instilling fear in the minds of educated and highly sociable Portharcourt people. How can you blow hot and cold at the same time?
Even in the guise of primitively administering caution to his followers, I expected this dude to at least provide or suggest alternative measures for Rivers People to continue enjoying the little benefits of civilisation, which, ironically, his hero and heroine could not destroy, in their six miserable years in power: rather than outrightly banning Rivers People from participating in the global world by way of psychological control through fear inducement, any smart boy who does social media work for a Governor, should elicit hope, consciousness, and inspiration through a deep insight into life. Or is that his strategy?
In the spirit of 'change, I'll quickly forgive my ignorant brother and give him a few tips that can improve his communication skills in terms of issuing out security cautions to his followers:
1. "Do not post pictures of your children with 'uniforms' that leave a 'trail' on Facebook, i.e, badge, insignia, pattern, etc.". kidnappers are not magicians; they cannot break through your Facebook wall into the classrooms of your children. If they can, then everyone should immediately relocate out of Rivers State: the red colour on his danger sign is probably not red enough!
2. "Do not give away the name of your children's school on Facebook". We post pictures of ourselves all the time on Facebook, yet we haven't all died. As dark as Satan is, he still lacks the power to kill God's children anytime and anyhow he wants. Lucifer needs your consent to do so. Since the advent of Christ and other great philosophy and metaphilosphy teachers, man has overtaken the devil in terms of cosmological ranking. Please study some more.
3. People of God, please do not stop posting 'secured pictures' of yourself or your children on Facebook or other social media platforms. We are not under siege as the e-spokeperson of Governor Wike would have us believe. (If the height of insecurity in Rivers State, has overwhelmed them, then the honourably thing to do, would be for them to pack their bags and go, simple and short). 'We no go gree'! We are God's children. Good must triumph over evil in Rivers State: thou shall not fear!
"Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; for the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught." - Proverbs 3:25,26
~ Solomon Okocha
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